Christmas in May...

Yesterday was an AWESOME mail day for me!  It was like Christmas around here.  :0)  It's always so much fun to go to the mailbox and find something besides bills and junk mail.   First of all, I received these most adorable boxes that I had ordered from Marly.  Can you say cute?  I'm totally in love with these and have the perfect place to put them.  For someone that loves samplers as I do, these are definitely my style!  Love them!

I also got two boxes from my sweet friend, BeckySC.  Look at all of this! OMGosh, I'm in awe.  Do you recognize Jenny from her blog?  I do love me some Jenny Bean!  I was so excited that she chose me to receive this adorable stitchy finish.  Becky does AMAZING work!  Her finishing is perfection and SO creative.  I never know what she will come up with next. 

She also sent me this beautiful flower frog.  Isn't it lovely?  This will hold a bunch of scissors!  I love it!

AND, if that weren't enough, look at all of these fibers!!  OH.MY.GOSH.  Becky's over-dyed fibers are to die for.  With all of these, I shouldn't need to buy any over-dyes for quite some time.  The colors are gorgeous!

She also included ALL of these WONDERFUL charts! I feel like I'm in an LNS.  LOL  I can't wait to do some Halloween stitching with these and her fibers. 

I would say Christmas in May for sure!  TOTALLY a good mail day! Thank you so, so much for everything!  I'm one happy gal right about now.  :0)

I've been stitching a bit more on Marianne and also did a few things that I can't show quite yet.  Yesterday I cut out and started sewing a dress for my little buglet, Kayla.  They are coming to visit next weekend (YAYAYAY!), so I wanted to have a few new summer outfits sewn for her.  I'm not sure what I'll get for Carter, but will make sure he gets the same amount.  LOL  Don't want anybody to be unhappy, ya know?  ;0)

Time to relax in my chair and do a bit of stitching.  I think I hear it calling my name! (or is that the voices in my head?  Hmm....) 

Enjoy the rest of your week, and thank you so much for stopping by.  I appreciate it so much! 

Hugs and love,

A Date with Marianne

Hello friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a nice Mother's Day.  Mine was quiet, but nice.  My sweet husband cooked supper last night.  My favorite - roast beef, gravy, roasted potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding.  nom nom nom  :0) 

I spent all day on a date with Miss Marianne Wenn.  I've enjoyed this sampler more than anything I've stitched in a long time.  Each and every motif has been a joy.  I just love thinking about her sitting in that straight backed chair as a little girl, making up her pattern as she stitched.  I wonder if she enjoyed stitching it as much as I am or if it was a chore for her?  Here are a few pictures of where I am now.  I'm almost 3/4 finished with her. 

(It looks like there is a spot on the fabric, but the fabric is aged and looks sorta splotchy in places.  I love it!)

I can't wait to get this one framed and hanging on my wall.  :0)

I spent a little while the other day kitting up some new projects.  All of them are biggies and are samplers, but I figured once Marianne is finished, I'll need another big "friend" to work on.

With the rain we've had in the last couple of weeks, our caladiums bulbs have gone crazy!  Two weeks ago you didn't even know there were bulbs there.  Look at them now...

I still have nearly a whole box of bulbs to plant.  I'm hoping to get them put in this next weekend.

Time for Dancing with the Stars and more bonding with Miss M.  Thank you all for visiting and for your sweet comments and emails.  I appreciate them and YOU.

Have a wonderful week!

Love and hugs,

 

Finishing Frenzy...

This last week and over the weekend I was a finishing fool.  The funny thing is that it didn't put a dent in what I still have in the box.   Oh well, at least it's a start.  The other funny thing is that none of the ones that I finished are any of the ones I showed you in my last post.  They were more "Eastery" and I wasn't in that mood. 

Here is a picture of all of them together.

1802 Biscornu Pinkeep

by Stacy Nash Primitives

28 ct. linen

DMC threads

Fly Away Home

By Twisted Threads

32 ct. New Khaki Lugana

DMC threads

Americana Sampler
By Twisted Threads
(thank you, Diana, for the info!)

Spooky Sheep

by Shepherd's Bush

32 ct. belfast linen

Threadgatherer Silks

Live Simply
By Stone and Thread

32 ct. creek bed brown linen

Valdani threads

My Everything

by the Sampler Girl

28 ct. cameo jobelan

DMC threads

Little Sampler Roll

By Erica Michaels

28 ct. raw linen banding

GAST fibers

Country Sampler Mitten Pinkeep

by Stacy Nash Primitives

28 ct. linen and DMC included in kit

Sorry the last one is so blurry.  Don't adjust your screen.  It's my fault!  ;0)

I have a few other things to show you, but will share those next time. 

Thank you ALL for your suggestions and comments about cameras and photo editing programs.  Michelle suggested PicMonkey for photo editing (free) and it's AWESOME!  Thank you so much, Michelle!  I like it better than Picnik. 

I hope your week has started off well.  I appreciate all of you SO much and thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment.  It means so much!  Also, I see I have a few new followers and would like to shout out a "howdy" and say "welcome"!  

Hugs and love from Texas,

Hodge Podge Mish Mash...

This post is about a bunch of different things, so bear with me.  LOL

I have so many things I want to share with you but I really need a new camera. All I've had to use lately is my phone camera, and it just doesn't do to suit me. Any suggestions on a good point and shoot? I don't want anything fancy - just something that I can use to capture some good pictures to share with you. What do you have? Also, I used to always use Picnik to crop my pictures, but that's no longer available.  What do you use?  (something easy....I'm technologically challenged LOL)

I was looking through my blog and realized that I've not posted much about my cross stitching lately but have mainly concentrated on quilting and sewing.  It's certainly not because I haven't been stitching as I stitch EVERY night while watching TV.  I can't sit down and not have something in my hands....ever.  I've been working on Marianne Wenn (LOVE this sampler), HoHRH, and also a Rico table topper.  I switch between them, stitching on whichever ones screams at me the loudest!  I do have to admit that there are some new things that are screaming at me, too, but I'm trying not to listen.  Anybody else have that problem?  :0)

I got a bit of new stash in the mail the other day.  One of my favorite ONS's was having a sale, so what's a girl to do?  Well, take advantage of it, of course!  Here is what I got.  All Shepherd's Bush, as you can see.  I do love me some Shepherd's Bush. :0)

I have a LOT of small finishes that need to have the "finishing finishing" done on them.  I seriously need to take a few days and just do it.  Here are just a few that are waiting in the wings to be finished up.

I love this Shepherd's Bush finish.  The Jill Rensel mat came in the kit (YAY!), so I just need to get it framed.  It will hang in my pink guest room.

These last two I picked up from the framers a couple of weeks ago.

Now how cute are these buttons?  I saw them at Hobby Lobby (on sale for half price!) and had to pick them up to hang in my sewing room.  Aren't they just the perfect thing?  I love them, and they are in my favorite colors, too.

Lastly, here is a picture of part of the front of our house after having the brick painted.  It's very hard to see the colors (bad camera again), but I'm totally in love with the way it turned out.  I really need to find a picture of this house when I moved into it 16 years ago.  The front is totally different. Actually the whole house is different.  It's taken alot of years, but Bob and I enjoy doing it, so it's been a fun thing to do together - a little at a time.

Well dear friends, I just heard the dryer go off, so I'm being paged.  I hope this week finds you well and getting lots of time to stitch, quilt, sew or whatever makes you smile.  Thank you all so much for stopping by and for leaving comments.  They mean so much to me!  I love my online friends.  :0)

Love and hugs from Texas,

Mr. Random Generator chose......

Number 46 - Candace!

Candice said...


My fav bundle is: Ta dot and Sweet Shoppe - it was a tie- I just can't decide :)

Congratulations Candace and thank you to all that entered!  We will be having another giveaway next month, so keep an eye out.  Candace, I will be emailing you to get your information.  :0)

I appreciate all of you so much.  My followers and readers are so important to me, and your comments bring a smile to my face.  Thank you for being so faithful and for sending your friends my way.  I do so appreciate it!

Have a most wonderful week!

Love and hugs from Texas,